Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel I. Klein today announced the results for third and fifth grade students attending the Summer Success Academy, which provides students with intensive academic instruction and support.  This year, 55% of third grade students and 43% of fifth grade students attending the Summer Success Academy earned promotion by scoring at Level 2 or higher on the summer tests - an increase from the year before for both grades. The Mayor and Chancellor announced the results at Department of Education (DOE) headquarters in the Tweed Courthouse.

"Our intervention strategies, including the Summer Success Academy, are helping more struggling students," said Mayor Bloomberg.  "As we have seen in our recent State and City test scores, fewer students are scoring Level 1 than ever before, and those that do are getting the help they need to move on.  The extra attention is clearly benefiting the students that need it most and is critical in our efforts to do away with social promotion and prepare our children for the future."

"These results once again demonstrate that high expectations - enforced by high standards - will lead to increased student achievement," said Chancellor Klein.  "With the new promotion policy and academic interventions and support, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students who are being promoted because they earned promotion and not simply because they showed up." 

Of the 6,259 third graders who attended Summer Success Academy and took the summer English Language Arts (ELA) and Math tests, 55% achieved at Level 2 or above on the summer tests, as compared to 49% last year and 35% in 2002-2003, before the implementation of the new promotion policy for third graders and the creation of Summer Success Academy.  Of the 4,014 fifth graders who attended Summer Success Academy and took the summer ELA and Math tests, 43% achieved at Level 2 or above on the summer tests, as compared to 28% in 2004, before the implementation of the new fifth grade promotion policy and expansion of the Summer Success Academy. 

During the 2004-2005 school year, the DOE held 61,413 third graders and 63,101 fifth graders to the new promotion policies.  These policies provide struggling students with extensive academic interventions and support services throughout the school year, including Saturday Preparatory Academy, small group and individual instruction, after-school tutoring, and guidance services, as well as targeted workshops for parents.  Summer Success Academy offers additional intensive academic support and enrichment programs for five weeks during the summer.

As a result of the new promotion policy, including these key programs and initiatives, third and fifth grade students who are now being promoted are prepared to do the next grade's work.  Overall, fewer students scored at Level 1 on the spring tests - from 18.3% of third graders in 2002-2003, before the implementation of the new promotion policy, to 16.5% in 2003-2004 to 13.4% in 2004-2005, and from 22.6% of fifth graders in 2003-2004, before the implementation of the new promotion policy, to 8.6% in 2004-2005. 

Those students who scored Level 1 on at least one test were provided a rigorous standards-based appeals process.  In third grade, 1.6% of students (971) held to the policy were granted an appeal, earning promotion based on their class work, compared to 4% (2,540) last year, reflecting a more rigorous application of appeals criteria.  Likewise, in fifth grade, 1.6% of students (1,022) held to the policy were granted an appeal.

A significantly higher percentage of third and fifth graders will be promoted to the next grade because they achieved at Level 2 or above on the spring or summer tests, and not through social promotion or appeals.  The percentage of such third grade students rose 9 percentage points since the implementation of the policy, from 89% in 2002-2003 to 96% in 2003-2004 to 98% in 2004-2005.  The percentage of fifth graders promoted based on achieving at Level 2 or above on the tests rose 15 percentage points since the implementation of the policy, from 83% in 2003-2004 to 98% in 2004-2005.

While the percentage of students achieving at Level 2 has increased significantly, the percentage of students being retained has remained relatively low.  As of today, 6.2% of third grade students held to the policy will be retained, as compared to 5.7% this time last year and the 4.4% final percentage in 2002-2003.  As of today, 4.2% of fifth grade students held to the policy will be retained, as compared to 2.9% this time last year.

The citywide core curriculum, the new promotion policy, academic interventions, and increased attention to struggling students have led to increased student success.  This past school year, students in grades 3 through 8 achieved the largest one-year gains and highest scores on ELA tests since standards-based tests began.  Math scores for students in grades 3, 5, 6 and 7 combined also saw the largest one-year gains and highest scores since standards-based tests began.